This research contributes to a better understanding of how reconfigurable
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices can safely be
used as part of satellite payload data processing systems that are exposed
to the harsh radiation environment in space. Despite a growing
number of publications about low-level mitigation techniques, only
few studies are concerned with high-level Fault Detection, Isolation
and Recovery (FDIR) methods, which are applied to FPGAs in a similar
way as they are applied to other systems on board spacecraft.
This PhD thesis contains several original contributions to knowledge
in this field. First, a novel Distributed Failure Detection method
is proposed, which applies FDIR techniques to multi-FPGA systems
by shifting failure detection mechanisms to a higher intercommunication
network level. By doing so, the proposed approach scales better
than other approaches with larger and complex systems since data
processing hardware blocks, to which FDIR is applied, can easily be
distributed over the intercommunication network. Secondly, an innovative
Availability Analysis method is proposed that allows a comparison
of these FDIR techniques in terms of their reliability performance.
Furthermore, it can be used to predict the reliability of a specific
hardware block in a particular radiation environment. Finally,
the proposed methods were implemented as part of a proof of concept
system: On the one hand, this system enabled a fair comparison
of different FDIR configurations in terms of power, area and performance
overhead. On the other hand, the proposed methods were all
successfully validated by conducting an accelerated proton irradiation
test campaign, in which parts of this system were exposed to
the proton beam while the proof of concept application was actively
running.